I Wrote a Poem to Put My Heart Right

John Piper

John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Reading the Bible Supernaturally.

John Piper

John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Reading the Bible Supernaturally.

On vacation I was meditating on Luke 10:17-20 where Jesus tells us not to be overly excited about our ability to do feats of triumph in defeating the devil. Rather he says, fix the root of your joy in this: Your names are written in heaven. Amazing.

Most of us are moved more by the fireworks of miracles than by the mere assurance of salvation. Something is amiss. So I lingered long enough here to put my heart right. And in the process wrote a poem.

Rejoice! Your Names Are Written in Heaven

Luke 10:17-20

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

How quickly does a lightening bolt
Fall from the blackened clouds and strike the forest fair!
How powerful the fleeting volt
That vanishes at once and leaves a cinder there!

So quickly falls the ancient Snake
From his condemning height with all his cruel pangs,
When in Your name and for Your sake
We wield your mighty word and break his deadly fangs.

And as we leap to celebrate
This triumph in our hands, this best of mountain peaks,
Your voice, so calm and full of weight,
Cuts through our ecstasy, our festival, and speaks:

“Do not rejoice in this, dear ones,
That Satan and his hordes are subject to your voice,
But that, in heav’n as treasured sons,
Your names are written down. In this, in this, rejoice!

Rejoice, rejoice, my friends, my prize!
Your names are written there, in blood with my own hand.
Rejoice and sing, rejoice, arise
And leap for this: before the world, your name was planned.

Rejoice, your name is written there
Secure, and by this Lamb it is forever placed.
And thus by my own blood I swear:
Your name will never be, no never be, erased.”